16.06.2013

Education woes
A peep into history to know what was the educational
philosophy of the fathers of Pakistan, what principles they wanted our educational institutions to be based on and how they wanted it to be organised
By Yaqoob Khan
Bangash

A few days ago, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa announced that it was going to introduce a common curriculum in all institutions, public and private, in the province from the next academic year. As we await the details of such a revolutionary development, my mind turned to ascertain the roots of education policy in Pakistan. I wanted to know what was the educational philosophy of the fathers of Pakistan, what principles they wanted our educational institutions to be based on and how they wanted it to be organised.

Our current education system is quite simply in crisis. We do not have an adequate number of schools, resources, developed curricula, and teachers. The 18th Amendment to the constitution made education a fundamental right under Article 25A, but even after the passage of a couple of years, proper legislation and processes have still to be formulated to realise this right. But getting students to properly equipped schools is just the beginning of the educational process. Our system is fraught with the problem that our students never learn one language adequately: they mostly cannot read or write their mother tongue, are conversant in Urdu but cannot handle it at a higher level, and a large majority is simply unable to string together a grammatical sentence in English. So at the end of school (or even university) Pakistani students are hardly proficient in even one language.

Therefore, I dug up the speeches of our first education minister, Fazlur Rahman, to determine what were the issues he was dealing with at the inception of the country. What I found was really interesting, and in a way, astonishing, and to a large extent reflected the problems we are grappling with today.

At the creation of the country, education did not get an independent minister, but was given as an additional department to the interior minister, Fazlur Rahman, whose role as interior minister gave greater gravity to his comments on education.

One of the primary concerns of Fazlur Rahman was that he wanted to create a ‘new’ educational system. This notion was predicated in the eagerness of the government to provide a ‘third way’ as Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan argued. For us now it might seem like a distant memory, but in the late 1940s, with the advent of the Cold War, the global battle between Communism and Capitalism was a crucial concern for almost everyone. Therefore, Rahman noted, at the meeting of the Advisory Board of Education in 1949, ‘...my mind is appalled by the extent to which, as a result of the conflict in political faiths, the world has been divided into hostile camps. There is on the one side the old order based on Capitalism and on the other hand a new order based on Communism, with its uncompromising denial of God and the right of private property...Unless we offer to the world an ideology that will provide an effective answer to both Communism and Capitalism, we may not be able to keep at bay the influences that emanate from them. It is my faith and conviction that Islam supplies the ideology we are looking.’

The eagerness to find another option, coupled by a romantic notion of the golden age of Islam, it seems, was the main driving force behind these ministers believing that they had something new, unique and fulfilling to offer to the world. This reminds me of the writings of Saadat Hassan Manto, the famed Urdu writer, where he once noted that when he tried to bribe someone for a ticket he was strictly told: ‘This is not done in Pakistan!’ This sense of being at the threshold of a new age inspired many novel initiatives.

In his speeches, Fazul Rahman speaks of the complete transformation of the educational outlook of the country, strictly on ‘Islamic ideology.’ This again is rather interesting since most people in Pakistan believe that the words ‘Islamic ideology’ and its official application are later concepts. However, at the first All-Pakistan Education Conference in November 1947, the education minister had already stated: ‘It is, therefore, a matter of profound satisfaction to me, as it must be to you, that we have now before us the opportunity of reorienting our entire educational policy to correspond closely with the needs of the times and to reflect the ideas for which Pakistan as an Islamic state stands.’

He again emphasised in February 1949: ‘But mere lip-service to Islamic ideology will be as foolish a gesture as Canute’s order to the waves of the sea. We must see to it that every aspect of our national activity is animated by this ideology, and since education is the basic activity of the State, I realised that a start had to be made there.’ Rahman clearly knew what this change meant — it was not a mere realignment but a radical transformation. Rahman noted at the Academic Council of Dacca University in 1948: ‘What is wanted is a complete transformation of the spirit and content of education, and unless the spirit reflects the higher conceptions of Islam, our education will be a counterfeit and a sham.’

These statements, most of which were made during the lifetime of Jinnah, should make us wonder if the often repeated claim that Jinnah wanted to create a ‘secular’ Pakistan is indeed true. Could a minister appointed by Jinnah himself publicly declare that the educational philosophy of the country would now be based on ‘Islamic ideology,’ if the founder of the nation wanted a secular republic? Perhaps we mistakenly lambast General Zia ul Haq and his Islamisation since he was merely following through the wishes of the founding fathers of Pakistan?

The education minister was also clear to the extent to which Islamic ideology should form the basis of education in Pakistan. Elucidating his views on teacher training, he stated that teachers should unmistakably formulate their teaching philosophy on Islamic ideology.

Speaking at the third meeting of the Advisory Board of Education in Dacca in December 1949, he noted: ‘What I mean is that they (the teachers) should study the fundamental principles of Islam on which we have based our educational ideology...I would, therefore, suggest for your consideration that there should be a compulsory paper in the teachers’ training course on the contents of Islamic ideology...Teachers so trained should be asked to prepare definite projects on the basis of the chief characteristics of Islamic ideology so that students in their charge may seek to embody these characteristics...’ Therefore not only should teachers be taught and tested on this ‘Islamic ideology’ they should also ensure that this ideology is lived by their students.

Since Pakistan was a new country, and its founding fathers had a great zeal for giving something new to the world, several new (and novel) ideas were also in circulation at that time. For example, the education minister and a number of others were strongly in support for adopting the Arabic script for all the languages in Pakistan.

In a speech at the second Advisory Board of Education, Fazlur Rahman went through all the scripts of the languages in Pakistan and concluded that ‘...on practical as well as educational grounds...it (Arabic) is the most suitable for adoption as the common script of Pakistan.’ He later gave several more reasons for the adoption of a common Arabic script and noted: ‘...the adoption of the Arabic script will be a potent means of promoting cultural homogeneity and unity of national outlook...’ He therefore concluded: ‘We must, therefore, take immediate steps to introduce this script on a nation-wide basis...’

What the honourable education minister failed to note here is that changing the script of all languages in the country, where a number might use an adapted form of the Arabic script, will fuel linguistic nationalism, since any self respecting people will see such moves as degrading their language and culture. Since Arabic has had no real and direct connection with South Asia (except through its influence on Persian), such an imposition would be surely seen as alien as the imposition of any other foreign script.

These tendencies, as well as, continuous efforts at trying to enforce the abandonment of the Bengali script by the East Pakistanis, led to increased tensions between the two wings of the country, ultimately ending in the vivisection of the country in 1971.

The minister was also very adamant that this ‘transformation’ must be state-led and involve a strong control of curriculum and textbooks. Obviously, if education were to impart one ‘ideology’ and develop a common outlook, a strict control of what students are taught is essential. As a result the minister exclaimed at the first All Pakistan Educational Conference: ‘I am, therefore, strongly of opinion that there should be special governmental organisations to undertake the preparation of text-books. This will not only ensure the observance of approved educational principles on which textbooks are to be based, but will also bring together talent of sufficient width and diversity...’

The ultimate aim, the minister crystallised in his address to the Inter-University Board in June 1948, was that universities and other institutions ‘...have to undertake the immediate revision of their syllabuses and curricula with a view to their conformity with the spirit of that (Islamic) ideology.’ This state control of textbooks and their content has been a major hindrance in the development of education in this country since its inception. Quite simply, any ideological based educational system has to teach one sided versions and undermine other views.

After reading speech after speech by the first education minister, one thing is amply clear to me: that the fathers of the country were clear about their aim of transforming the educational foundation of the country from a secular outlook to a firm Islamic viewpoint. The minister clearly noted this in his preface to this compilation: ‘The theme of Islamic ideology...is recurrent through almost all the speeches.’ Therefore, when certain quarters of the country lament the fact that Pakistan began as a ‘secular’ state under Jinnah, and was later taken over by the religious right, they probably need to rethink their proposition.

Fazlur Rahman was very clear that he wanted to change the system in the country and root it in what he called ‘Islamic ideology’. He noted: ‘...our educational system was not based on any ideology and did not provide for the satisfaction of the spiritual and moral needs of the community.’ However, what this ‘Islamic ideology’ meant always remained vague in his speeches and its fundamentals were only referred to as ‘universal brotherhood, tolerance and social justice,’ which being more of less universal values, do not indicate how ‘Islamic’ this new system was supposed to be. Clearly, once it was settled that ‘Islamic ideology’ set the rules, what the rules actually were could be elucidated according to the will of the lawmaker — be they Islamic in spirit or not.

In February 1835, Macaulay in his most famous ‘Minute’ on Indian education stated that the aim of education in India should be to create ‘a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.’ This minute which was based on Macaulay’s understanding that there was not much to learn in the Orient, and that the Oriental languages were not developed enough to be used for modern scientific teaching, created the oft-repeated educational confusion which I have referred to above — that our students are not proficient in any language by the end of even university education, and that even culturally and intellectually they are torn between their local culture, Muslim culture (in Pakistan), or Western inspired culture.

I do not know what shape the education policy of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is going to take, or for that matter, what policies governments of other provinces or the federation will develop, but let me, at least, argue for non-ideological and ‘liberal’ education. By liberal I mean a broad based system of education which does not pre-decide what the students should believe and follow, but an education which develops one’s intellect to think independently and decide rationally. As one scholar put it, liberal education is: ‘..at once the most enduring and changeable of academic traditions.’ Liberal education, therefore, is something which is not static, exclusionary, or ideological, but literally ‘frees’ the individual to purse the ‘good life’ Aristotle talked about. Only with such a liberal education can a ‘Naya Pakistan’ or any Pakistan develop.

The writer is the Chairperson of the Department of History, Forman Christian College, and tweets at @BangashYK.

16.06.2013

An austere beginning
Austerity measures and drastic action against corrupt practices can ensure good governance and economic revival
By Alauddin Masood

With the swearing in ministers, at the national as well as at the provincial level, the process of transition from one civilian government to another has almost been completed. Elections for the Presidency will be held when the incumbent completes his tenure in September, this year.

Pakistan’s first ever orderly completion of the democratic process, foiling designs of vested interests to derail democracy, marks an important milestone in the country’s chequered political history. This first transition, under the auspices of a civilian government, has been widely acclaimed both within the country and abroad.

The vested interests, it may be recalled, had fielded an articulate religious scholar as their opening batsman to pave the way for the formation of a non-democratic government comprising technocrats, at least for three years to begin with. But, the masses did not lend support to those elements, paving the way for the May 11 general elections and transition to a new civilian government in keeping with the provisions of the Constitution.

In messages of congratulations to the newly-elected prime minister, the world community has hailed the democratic transition and extended hand of cooperation to the new democratic set-up. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed the confidence that under the leadership of Mian Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan would build up on its democratic achievements.

Mian Nawaz Sharif, in his maiden speech after election as the country’s prime minister, asked the MNAs to make the National Assembly “the fortress to safeguard the democratic order.”

Listing some of the major challenges, including power shortfall, economic meltdown and precarious law and order situation, the PM said, he would not portray any rosy picture to the people, but he won’t disappoint them either, pledging to sincerely put in efforts for the resolution of these lingering issues. He visualised a prosperous Pakistan in days ahead and announced zero tolerance for corruption and pledged to make all appointments purely on merit.

Giving broad contours of the PML-N’s plan for the first 100 days in office, Nawaz Sharif said that they would assign priority to rebuilding basic infrastructure with focus on boosting agriculture and industrial sectors, while work on overcoming the energy crisis has already been put in motion. While the country faced an acute energy shortfall, two stalwarts of the previous PPP regime — Law Minister Babar Awan and Law Secretary Masood Chishti — during their tenure allegedly delayed approval for the shifting of Nandipur and Chicho Ki Malian power plants’ machinery from the Karachi port to the site.

Law Ministry’s Senior Joint Secretary, Dr. Riaz Mehmood, made the startling disclosure before the Supreme Court on June 10, 2013. How unfortunate – rather criminal – that state minions whose job should have been to facilitate installation of new power houses have been creating obstacles even during times when the country was experiencing a deepening shortfall of energy, impelling some industrialists to relocate their factories to other countries?

This brings to the fore the need for curtailing the role of the bureaucracy to the minimum as far as new investment in the country is concerned. Without taking drastic steps, it might not be possible to curtail the scourge of corruption.

Referring to his meeting with the Chinese PM, Nawaz said they had planned to lay a rail track from Kashgar to Gawadar and Karachi. He said that his party was doing the politics of values and that was why they respected the PTI mandate to form the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). In the same spirit, he said, for the first time in the country, a majority party has doled out the slots of CM and Governor to its smaller partners in Balochistan.

The citizens are confident that, under Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan would not only come out of the present economic morass, the country would also start making economic progress, once again. In support, one may refer to the signs of turnaround in the crippled and debt-trapped economy of Pakistan immediately after the PML-N’s electoral victory. The five key economic indicators — stock market, real estate, foreign exchange reserves, dollar-rupee parity and inflow of foreign investment — are showing signs of recovery. According to analysts, these five factors are the foremost economic indicators that show immediate response to economic change: If the economy progresses these indicators rise and if the case is otherwise they start regressing.

The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark-100 index is setting new records every week. It surged to a record high mark of 22,358.96 points on June 7, 2013 when market capitalisation ballooned to 5.39 trillion rupees from 4.75 trillion rupees in early May, indicating an increase of over 650 billion rupees. Analysts described it as a good omen for the economic revival. While before elections, people were talking about default and economic failure, after the PML-N’s electoral victory they are now talking about economic revival and growth. They cite the inflow of foreign investment as one of the key indicators of economic growth.

After stock exchange, real estate is the second key indicator that immediately reacts to the economic turnaround. In the last two months, the real estate prices, in posh areas, have increased by 10-25 per cent, depending on the property’s location. Similarly, the foreign exchange reserves that were constantly showing downslide before elections have started registering improvement beginning in the third week of May, 2013.

On May 17, the State Bank of Pakistan reported a slight decline in foreign exchange reserves, from US$11.60 billion to US$11.43 billion. However, the situation changed by May 24, 2013, when the SBP reported reserves at US$11.62 billion, from 11.43 billion dollars of the preceding week, showing US$190 million growth despite US$390 million payment to the IMF as loan installment.

Since the flight of capital has stopped and inflow of foreign investment has started increasing, this trend would strengthen the foreign exchange reserves and the value of Pakistani currency against major currencies of the world. Dollar-rupee parity that had crossed 100 rupee mark before elections has reversed to below 100 and it is now hovering around 98.50 to 99 rupees. It is believed that improvement in investment and reserves would further squeeze the value of dollar against the rupee in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the country’s new leaders, it seems, have started proceeding on a course of austerity. To begin with, the PM has trimmed the size of the cabinet of ministers. Against six dozen ministers in the cabinet of the outgoing PPP government, Nawaz has constituted a cabinet of 25, including 16 ministers and nine ministers of state. In addition, he has appointed three advisors and two special assistants to the prime minister.

A ministerial slot, on an average, costs about 12 million rupees annually. This means a saving of about 500 million rupees. Furthermore, the number of ministries has also been slashed, which would result in considerable savings. To curtail administrative expenditure, the new PM has also directed a reduction of 30 per cent in the staff of the PM’s office. On June 10, he advised the members of his cabinet to reduce all non-development expenditure by at least 30 per cent.

Furthermore, corresponding to every ministry, there are committees both in the Senate and the National Assembly. A reduction in the number of ministries would automatically result in the curtailment of the number of parliamentary committees and their chairmen, who enjoy perks and privileges equal to that of a minister of state. In addition, there is a parliamentary secretary for every ministry and reduction in the size of the ministries would mean corresponding decrease in the number of parliamentary secretaries.

As the number of ministers, federal ministries, committee chairmen and parliamentary secretaries decrease, so would the need for providing them limousines. The cumulative effect of rightsizing the cabinet, the parliamentary committees, committee chairmen, parliamentary secretaries and various ministries/departments would result in savings of billions of rupees. Only a popularly elected leader could have taken such bold and drastic steps!

Taking a cue from the helmsman, leaders at the federal and provincial level have also announced to adopt austerity. The PML-N government has reportedly decided to abolish the multi-billion rupee discretionary development funds for the prime minister and also impose ban on the import of luxury Mercedes cars in the budget for 2013-14.

The PM’s discretionary development fund had swollen to a whopping Rs42 billion under ex-PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. Federal Information Minister Pervez Rasheed, Chief Minister KP Pervez Khattak and Chief Minister Balochistan Dr. Abdul Malik have expressed their determination not to use secret funds at the initial stages of their new tenures. Interior Minister Ch. Nisar Ali Khan has announced not to use the official car, the official helicopter or aircraft of the Interior Ministry.

These austerity measures are bound to show results, in the shape of accelerated growth, in due course of time.

The writer is a freelance columnist based at Islamabad. alauddinmasood@gmail.com

__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

16.06.2013

Terrorism vs good governance
The PTI faces tough challenges as it governs the insurgency-hit Pakhtunkhwa
By Raza Khan

Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) first-ever government has started working in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province as the cabinet portfolios have been allocated after much delay. Irrespective of which party or individual gets what ministry, it would be the overall performance of the government that would be a barometer to gauge the tall claims Khan has been making for many years.

As the PTI has failed to win majority in the National Assembly and is not part of the government in any other province, its government in the KP would also be critical for the future of the party and perhaps democracy in Pakistan keeping in view the party’s slogan of ‘change’ on which it got the second highest number of votes across Pakistan.

The KP is both simultaneously fortunate and unfortunate to have the PTI-led government because the party has a non-traditional political programme, which the province needs the most to sort out its myriad issues. Although the entire Pakistan needs change, the KP needs it the most as the decadent political and economic institutions have almost collapsed due to multifarious factors while the society is experiencing large-scale changes and is in a state of transition. In this situation there ought to be a political force which could not only bring change but also manage change.

The KP, as a society and administrative entity, has had some very critical and peculiar issues and problems. The province is extensively affected by the direct and indirect effects of the unprecedented insurgency-cum-terrorism of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the 30-year-long international conflict plus civil war in the neighbouring Afghanistan. It is important to note that the KP for decades hosted two-third of the 3.5-4.0 million Afghan refugees, the biggest refugee population anywhere in the world, which migrated to Pakistan due to the Soviet-Afghan War and lived there for decades.

A large number of these refugees are still living in the KP. On the other hand, the KP in recent years also experienced one of the biggest internal human displacement in modern world history when due to the TTP insurgency and consequent military offensive around three million residents of Swat-Malakand had to leave their homes to get refuge in rest of the province. Apart from that, presently around a million IDPs from the Fata displaced due to Taliban insurgency are also living in the adjoining districts of the KP.

Terrorism, international conflict and insurgency of such big magnitude and intensity have left the KP government institutions extremely weakened, has significantly eroded the state writ and lacerated the social fabric of the province or more aptly Pakhtoon society. Against this backdrop, what is required is reconstruction and development effort of a gargantuan proportion. It is also a dilemma of the government that it has to reconstruct and develop the province simultaneously.

The incoming government must understand that terrorism in the name of Islam in Pakistan, particularly in the KP, has many causal factors, many of which, like underdevelopment and society’s ultra-conservativeness, have roots in political vacuum and resultant bad policies and governance. Thus terrorism could only be countered through good governance and pro-social change. For this, the province needs a government that is composed of able, educated and erudite people and has cognition of not only the problems but most importantly their solution.

The KP has a strange fate as it has got a government led by a party, which does not have any experience of governance. However, such argument in no way can take the right of governance from the party as it has been given the mandate to rule by the majority people of the KP. At least, the newly-elected Chief Minister of the province, Pervez Khattak, is an extremely experienced and educated man, who has the potential to overcome these challenges and reconstruct the province and put it on the path of development.

Khattak, in his maiden speech to the provincial assembly after election, said that his government has come with full preparation to rule and had ready policies and won’t waste time to think what it had to do. This sounded music to the ears. Because once vision is clear, priorities get straight, policy formulation become rational and their implementation mechanical. During the same speech, one could feel that Khattak as a nominee of Imran Khan had realisation of the situation as he himself said everything in the province had crumbled. “Is there anything in shape,” he questioned.

Apart from the chief minister, there are also quite experienced and educated men in the cabinet like the seasoned campaigner Shaukat Yousafzai, Atif Khan and Sirajul Haq (JI).

Here are some important points, which if taken into consideration, could greatly help the new government to overcome challenges and ensure good governance.

The PTI leadership and everyone else are grossly mistaken when it states that terrorism is the biggest challenge of or in the KP; it is neither. Firstly, it is beyond the capacity of the KP government to address the phenomenon of terrorism in the name of Islam. Secondly, the terrorists have their bases in the tribal areas, a federal territory. Thirdly, the phenomenon of religious terrorism has been the result of decades-old state policies and international intervention in the region and Pakistan.

The KP has not been the mainspring of terrorism but only has been the victim of these forces and policies. So the KP government cannot be expected to resolve these issues unless there is a fundamental change in the state policies and withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. If the provincial government would attempt to eliminate terrorism and bases of its perpetrators by force it would be a grave mistake which the previous provincial government of the Awami National Party (ANP) committed. However, the KP government could mitigate the effects of terrorism. The only way of this is to ensure good governance.

Desire for having good governance was the very reason which motivated most of the people to vote for the PTI in the province because the party, claims notwithstanding, does not have any coherent political ideology.

Taliban have got most of their supporters and fighters among the extremely poor and unemployed youth. Thus poverty and unemployment along with structural underdevelopment and, above all, profound social-psychological conservativeness in the KP have been some, not all, of the main contributing causes to the phenomenon of religious extremism and terrorism. Therefore, if the provincial government come up with such policies that could address these critical issues then it would do its part to counter terrorism in the province.

Thus the challenges which the new government of the PTI in the KP have to face, including effects of terrorism and economic meltdown, are huge but they can be adroitly managed provided the government has the vision, comprehension and solution. With the popularly-elected, experienced and dedicated government of the PML-N at the centre and the PTI-led government in the KP, hopefully the country would see qualitative improvement in governance.

__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

16.06.2013

Heart-to-heart
A guidebook for all with heart complications
By Syed Mansoor Hussain

At almost every dinner I attend, when people find out about my area of expertise in medicine, whether I like it or not, I often have to spend much of the evening talking about heart disease especially blockages of heart arteries. And the reason is that there is always somebody around who has had treatment for blockages of these arteries.

First, a quick primer on disease of the heart arteries (coronary artery disease-CAD) is in order. As anybody who read ‘biology’ in high school knows, the heart is an organ made up of muscle. It receives ‘impure’ blood from the body through ‘veins’, pushes it into the lungs to be ‘purified’ and then gets it back and pumps or pushes it into the rest of the body through blood vessels called arteries. But, the heart also has to supply itself and this is done through the coronary arteries.

Almost all arteries in the body can develop narrowing or blockages and so can those that supply the heart. Once the arteries of the heart start developing blockages (CAD), problems occur. The heart, after all, is an organ that cannot rest and must keep on beating about seventy times a minute for as long as a person is alive. And has to beat harder during exercise or any form of physical exertion. So if the heart arteries are narrowed, during exercise, parts of the heart muscle might not get enough blood producing heart pain also called angina. Most often the first time a person seeks medical help for CAD is after developing angina. If, however, a heart artery gets completely blocked it can lead to damage of the heart muscle supplied by that artery. This is called a heart attack or a myocardial infarction (MI).

The ‘risk factors’ for developing CAD include inherited tendencies, high blood fat concentration, presence of other medical problems like Diabetes (high blood sugar), and high blood pressure and then there are life style choices like high fat diet, lack of exercise, smoking and putting on excess weight. The important thing to remember is that not all patients with the risk factors mentioned above will develop CAD and that some patients without any known risk factors will go on to develop serious blockages. However, an important part of cardiac medicine is devoted to controlling and minimising risk factors, but that is a topic for another time. Today, I just want to mention what treatments are available for those that have actually developed CAD and have developed problems due to it.

Before any actual treatment is initiated, the first step is to establish that the problem is really due to arterial blockages. An electro-cardio gram (ECG) is often the first test. This shows the electrical heart action and can help determine if a person has had a heart attack in the past or is having one at the time of the test. Other than that, it has limited use. Most tests used to establish the presence of CAD depend on some sort of exercise or medicines that increase heart function during which time either an ECG is performed (stress test) or special medicines are injected and pictures of the heart are taken to see if the heart is getting enough blood during increased activity.

The ultimate tests remains the ‘angiogram’ where a thin tube (catheter) is passed up through an artery in the arm or the leg into the heart, placed in the coronary arteries and a special ‘dye’ is injected and X-Ray pictures are taken. This shows the actual arteries and confirms the presence of blockages. An alternative test that is being used frequently is called a ‘CT angiogram’ where a special dye is injected in a vein and then a multiple rapid X-Ray images of the heart are made and a computer generates a three dimensional picture of the heart and its arteries.

Once it is determined that problems are due to significant blockages of heart arteries, two types of treatment are possible. First are medicines that decrease the activity of the heart so that it can function with less blood that is available. This is referred to as medical treatment. The other option especially in patients at increased risk of developing a heart attack is to increase the amount of blood that is passing through the heart arteries. This can be done by two methods. First and the older treatment is called a bypass operation in which arteries or veins taken from other parts of the body are attached to the heart arteries beyond the blockages so as to ‘bypass’ the blockages. This is a major operation and carries some risk and possibility of complications.

An alternative that is more frequently being used now is opening up the blockages from the inside. This is called angioplasty and ‘stenting’. Angioplasty is performed during an angiography mentioned above. Once a catheter has been placed in the obstructed artery, then under X-Ray control a thin wire is threaded through the catheter and is passed through the obstruction in the artery. Once this wire is across the obstruction another catheter with a balloon attached to its tip is passed over this wire, the balloon is placed at the site of the obstruction and distended to open up the obstruction. However, angioplasty is rarely done by itself anymore and almost always once the obstruction is opened up, a small tubular metal mesh is placed at the obstruction site to keep the artery open. This metal mesh is called a stent.

Newer types of stents have the metal coated with special medicines that decrease the chance of the obstruction from recurring. The stents without such medicine are called ‘bare metal stents’ (BMS) and the ones with the medicines are called ‘drug eluting stents (DES). Once these ‘stents’ have been placed, a lifetime regimen of ‘blood thinners’ is often necessary to improve the chance that these stents will stay open. The modern term used for all catheter based treatment of coronary blockages and associated conditions is “Percutaneous Catheter Intervention’ (PCI).

Finally, to the extreme form of artery blockage that produces a heart attack. Complete blockages of heart arteries are usually due to a blood clot at the site of a partial obstruction. If the victims of a heart attack reach a well equipped hospital with a few hours of developing a heart attack, they will often be given a medicine into the blood stream to dissolve the clot. The medicine most often used in Pakistan is called Streptokinase (SK). However, over the last decade or so, a PCI or a catheter based opening of the blockage combined with medicines to dissolve the clot are becoming the preferred method of treatment for appropriate patients.

All the descriptions mentioned above are for information rather than as recommendations for any type of treatment.

The writer is former professor and Chairman Department of Cardiac Surgery, KEMU/Mayo Hospital, Lahore: smhmbbs70@yahoo.com

__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

16.06.2013

The ‘Big’ problem
Awareness about the negative consequences of population growth is severely lacking and has been replaced by myths of obscurantism
By Tauseef-ur-Rahman

Being with family, especially with kids, always make people cheerful. But this does not happen to Bizwar Khan. After being displaced from Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency against the backdrop of consecutive military operations, his large family, comprising 22children (12 girls and 10 boys) and three wives, witnessed a division — 10 of his family members shifted to Jalozai camp established for internally-displaced persons while the remaining 16 still reside in Bara.

His displaced family is braving scorching heat while sitting in a makeshift tent after the mercury jumped to 42 Celsius at Jalozai camp. The camp, situated in Nowshera district, has accommodated tens of thousands of tribespersons uprooted from various tribal agencies of the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

“I cannot bring all of my children to the camp because the ration given at the camp is not sufficient enough to meet the requirement of such a large family. At the same time, owing to the law and order situation, I am worried about the safety of my family which I left in Bara,” Bizwar Khan, 40, tells TNS.

“I strive hard”, he adds, “to make both the ends meet but it has become increasingly difficult for me due to ever-surging prices of daily-use items.”

The family of Bizwar is one of the many in Pakistan who are faced with many problems due to their large families. Experts say that population explosion has its own dynamics essentially embedded in ignorance, lack of social vision and the complications and consequences caused by population overgrowth.

There are three views on population and economic development — Pessimistic View, Optimistic View and Neutralist View. The Pessimistic theory says that population growth has negative impact on economic growth while the optimistic theory states that population growth promotes economic activity while the neutralist theorists are of the opinion that population growth is independent of economic growth.

Whatever the optimistic theorists state about the benefits of the population growth, it is an ascertained fact that it has negative effects on economic growth, education, health, food and environment. It also increases poverty and in certain cases triggers international migration.

With limited resources in hand, fewer opportunities to earn and living a hand-to-mouth life further worsen the already deteriorated plight of the children.

Since its inception, the population of Pakistan increased with a remarkable pace and from around 33 million in 1947 it has reached, according to a rough estimate, to 180 million in 2012. Currently, Pakistan is the sixth largest country of the world and also one of the poorest as well. With the same pace of growth, Pakistan’s population is expected to touch the mark of 210 million by 2020.

According to recently issued World Development Indicators by World Bank, 60 per cent of Pakistanis are living below the poverty line. The international poverty line is two dollars a day or an income of Rs 200 per day. The report tells that 21 per cent of Pakistan’s population lives below $1.25 a day.

It further states that 30.9 per cent of the children under the age of five are suffering from malnutrition and underweight while mortality rate under five is 72 per 1,000 birthrate and maternal mortality ratio is 260 per 100,000 births.

The population growth rate in Pakistan is 2.03, the highest in South Asia, while the fertility rate is 3.4. The contraceptive prevalence ratio is 27 per cent and if the trend continues Pakistan’s population will double by 2046.

This huge burden of population has adversely affected almost every sector of the country, be it education, health, infrastructure, environment, energy, sanitation, sewage, unemployment, transport, to name a few.

Education is getting expensive with every passing day; the increased number of children limits the access of these children even to primary level let alone higher levels. It results into increase of uneducated mass which has its own detrimental complication for the society at large.

The healthcare of such huge families has also been compromised. Immunization becomes patchy which results in an alarming increase in infant mortality. Children of large families are also prone to communicable diseases. The public sector health outlets are overburdened and cannot cater to the needs of the public which results in dependency on private sector and puts immense financial pressure on people like Bizwar Khan who has to cater for 22 children.

The burgeoning trend of child labour in the country is also attributed to the rapidly growing population.

Besides, awareness about the basic facts and consequences of population growth is severely lacking and has been replaced by myths of obscurantism. “The basic duty of the society and the government is to create awareness through print and electronic media and community participation,” says Tahirullah, an official of the Rahnuma Family Planning Association of Pakistan.

__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

16.06.2013

The roots of violence
Zia Ur Rehman’s book “Karachi in Turmoil” is a
telltale of social and economic motives behind unceasing violence
By Ali Arqam

The unceasing violence in Karachi has many facets. It has been, for the last few years, in the headlines for periodic waves of violence due to varying reasons. Sometimes, a political assassination has flared up the turbulence or a fiery political statement has led to violent responses resulting in losses of innocent lives, torching of vehicles and devastation of valuable properties.

Amidst all the political antics of making and breaking alliances, joining or quitting coalitions, calling on the supporters for strikes, protests and days of mourning, accusations and allegations of foul play, the unremitting saga of killings of political workers from all the political parties continued without a break.

The story of these turbulent years, different players who have contributed to the turmoil, political, social and economic motives behind this and the repercussions and implications of this are paraphrased well in the book by the Karachi-based journalist and researcher, Zia Ur Rehman, in his book, “Karachi in Turmoil” published by the Narratives Islamabad.

In the beginning, violence was attributed to the ethnic tensions between Urdu speaking community represented by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pashtuns whose support was divided proportionally among different secular and religio-political parties. But in the 2008 general elections, Awami National Party (ANP) projected itself as the representative party of the Pashtuns by winning from two provincial constituencies.

For decades, Karachi has been a centre of gravity for the labourers from all the provinces due to its commercial and industrial importance. War, insurgency and military offensives against the militants have escalated the process of migration towards Karachi. Outskirts of the city have seen a rapid growth, many of the goths around were included in the city to meet the growing demands of lands for residential purposes.

The author has provided statistics showing trends of migration during these decades since partition till the recent years, and highlighted how these migrations have changed the demographics of the city and have greater implications over the politics in the coming years.

During these years, new forces have joined the rumble. The infamous gangs of Lyari have gained notoriety by engaging in more barbarous and ferocious acts of brutalities against their rivals and political opponents. Lyari is the oldest locality of Karachi and home to indigenous Baloch and Sindhi people who have consistently voted for the PPP. A larger group of Lyari gangs put on a political avatar of People’s Aman Committee (PAC) and served as a subsidiary of the PPP initially. After violent clashes with the MQM and targeting of members of Katchi community, mostly the PPP supporters, realisation in the PPP ranks led to a ban on the PAC.

Furious over the developments, the PAC looked around by making contacts with other political parties including the PML-N and later formed Karachi City Alliance with Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Jamat-e-Islami and other groups. The author has painstakingly collected informations over the inception of the PAC and provided a detailed profile of the notorious outfit.

It will be interesting to note that apart from all the criminal activities, criminal gangs in Lyari are intolerant of and against the influence of Baloch nationalists groups. Mir Sohaib Mengal, international representative of BSO (Azad), has stated that Uzair Jan Baloch-led faction has been involved in repressing the activists of Baloch nationalists groups.

With the emersion of anti-Shia outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), violence against members of Shia community too escalated. Scores of Shia professionals have been killed while ASWJ too has faced reprisal attacks.

The author has gathered views and opinions on different aspects of anti-Shia violence. He also referred to the popular perception of Saudi-Iran proxy war behind these killings, though one can hardly find any substantiated argument supporting these claims.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan too has left its mark in the city. Most of the outskirts of Karachi are virtually under the control of the TTP. The TTP has been using Karachi as its financial jugular by resorting to land grabbing, kidnappings for ransom and collecting extortion money. The author has shed light on these criminal practices utilised by all the political and religious groups at different levels.

At the end, Zia Ur Rehman has made it very convenient for the students of politics, those interested in the city’s tumultuous politics and researchers who want to understand the roots of chronic violence in the city.

__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

16.06.2013

Misplaced priorities
Building human resources and generating
productive social capital should take precedence over building of roads and bridges
By Tahir Kamran

Mega projects serve the public good and also serve as monuments, as instruments for self-serving rulers wanting to immortalise themselves. The obsession for such mega projects was quite rampant during the medieval ages, when kings sometimes conceived projects as large as a full-fledged city, as the engineer King Shah Jahan did by building Shahjahanabad, on the outskirts of Delhi, to perpetuate his own memory.

Similarly, the primary motivation to build the Taj Mahal might have stemmed from Shah Jahan’s proverbial love for his queen Arjumand Bano, commonly known as Mumtaz Mahal, but his hankering to have that monumental mausoleum built must have also been designed to help the King transcend the confines of mortality. Thus, these practices were the bequest of an autocratic and monarchical dispensation where the persona of the King was held sacrosanct.

The ruler, as a person, held precedence over institutions — indeed it would not be unfair to say that the all-powerful ruler embodied all sorts of institutions. This essentially medieval trait has sustained itself to this day, when the collective will of the people is supposed to prevail, but in most cases does not. Instead, the idiosyncratic fantasies of elected rulers refuse to usher themselves into the era of modernism. Their conceptions of mega projects, which they want to flag as monuments, such as metro buses or bullet trains, in a third world country hobbled by resource constraint, is a reflection of misplaced priorities. Now is the time our political elite should think far beyond such shenanigans, beyond the distribution of favours just to win elections.

Going back to the theoretical aspect of mega projects, attention should be turned to projects far larger than those mentioned above, which were planned and executed in the modern era, projects with a very different aim and spirit behind them. One cannot credit any one person from among the British administration for the canal network which, to many scholars, is no less than a miracle. The same can be said about the railway network, the settlement process in the trans Ravi Punjab and the methods of revenue documentation and its collection. Such feats came about as a result of institutionalised practices, performed to ensure effective governance.

One Viceroy, during British rule, would initiate a certain policy which would then be carried on as a legacy by his successors. Continuity in the policy invigorated the administrative structure under the British. That was how it (administrative structure) endured even to this day, although in a deformed and mutilated way. It is, however, quite obvious that the imperial interests were latent in all such undertakings. Here the point worth pondering is as to why our rulers have not embraced that British legacy.

What we can learn from the successful democracies is a pressing need to strengthen our state institutions, which is the only way to achieve political stability and economic viability. Personalised rule erodes the institutions and unleashes anarchy. The over-exuberance demonstrated with impunity in administering the Punjab has proved counter-productive. Let the heads (read bureaucrats if you like) of government departments handle affairs in the way they think is proper. Meaningful reform in the administrative structure is a commendable and essential undertaking.

It requires soul searching and introspection by those conversant with the nitty-gritty of various systems working in different countries with the same historical experience as has Pakistan. However, instead of taking that route, the iron man of the Punjab juggles officers around at will, which has proven and will continue to prove perilous. One cannot expect effective governance and efficiency in an ambience plagued with uncertainty. It is, therefore, imperative that the one holding the reins of power builds confidence among officers. Efficiency and personal integrity ought to be the criterion, rather than personal likes or dislikes.

What is of utmost importance is the shifting of the focus from the development by building road and bridges to the human resources, so that social capital can be generated. It is the social capital that forms the core of any society. In order to do that the mediocrity that is pervasive to an alarming extent in our institutions for education and healthcare will have to be tackled at the earliest. Any clear vision regarding education or health is conspicuously missing from the agenda of the government. Several universities are finding it difficult to fill the professorial positions which does not bode well for the future of higher education.

Similarly, the public school system is in a shambles and no one seems to be mindful of that dereliction. Now that education is a provincial subject, it should figure among the top priorities of the government. Some task force needs to be instituted and the ailments afflicting the education and healthcare should be identified and subsequently addressed.

Public schooling of Finland and national health service of the United Kingdom may impart us some lessons in this regard. Surely enough nations sustain and thrive because of the social capital which comes about through investing in education and health services instead of ostentatious projects conceived and built on the shifting sands of time. Our leadership must come out of the fantasies of medieval ages to confront the challenges of the modern age.

__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

16.06.2013

Transport troubles
Karachi needs appropriate planning and efficient implementation of transport policies
By Dr Noman Ahmed

The Sindh Chief Minister announced the revival of Karachi Circular Railways at the humungous cost of $2.6 billion during a high level meeting in Karachi on June 07, 2013. With assistance from Japanese agencies at various levels of its planning and development, the project has already seen several bouts of cost escalation.

Experts say that the operation of KCR will have an in-built subsidy — as income from passenger fares shall not be enough to shoulder the running of the train service even for a day! At a time when the Sindh and federal governments are both cash-strapped, the investment in a system with an in-built need of a cash injection every year may not be a wise option. So what is the answer?

The Sindh Chief Secretary, during the same presentation, gave some revealing figures. The city transport comprises 47.3 per cent motor cycles, 36.5 per cent private vehicles, 4.5 per cent public transport, 9.9 per cent para-transit and 1.7 per cent contract carriages. Ironically, 4.5 per cent public vehicles carry 42 per cent passengers while 36.5 per cent private vehicles carry only 21 per cent commuters.

It is a common observation that rising number of private vehicles is the key reason of transport system inefficiencies in the city. Excess consumption of subsidised CNG fuel option; high occupancy of operational road shoulders; formidable utilisation of road space/vacant lots for parking; pressure on city administration to facilitate fast movement through de-signalisation and grade separated crossings; swift usurpation of pedestrian spaces and sidewalks and spiraling atmospheric pollution are some of the common problems generated by exponentially increasing private vehicles.

The rising statistics for fatal accidents and other damages to human life are other mentions that impact our urban living due to rising number of private vehicles. While a rational support to domestic automobile industry is a good policy, the decision to allow import of motor cars is neither solving transport problems nor helping employment rise beyond the conventional limits.

When the need-demand combine is suppressed beyond logical limits, it bursts at its seams to evolve rather unique solutions. The swarming rise of the three-wheeler vehicles operating on busy Karachi roads is an unavoidable phenomenon. Qingqi, CNG rickshaws and other improvised vehicles of the same range constitute this category of popular transport. It is capable to carry as many as 5-12 passengers on board at a time depending upon the make or seating capacity design.

A study conducted by Nabeel Ajaz of NED University in Karachi on urban planning revealed that easy availability, opportunity to sit and travel in relative comfort, prevention from thugs and thieves (who now hold up bus and mini bus passengers on a routine basis), low fares and uninterrupted operations during political strikes are some of the comparative advantages that have made Qingqi a very popular mode of transport. Housewives, school children, college and university students, white collar workers, labourers and a host of other categories of people use this transport.

Women find it a more comfortable mode due to limited or no chances of lecherous treatment by operator. However, there are many disadvantages also. A sizable number of drivers/operators are under-aged and have no proper driving licence. The vehicle design is also inappropriate for broken roads with potholes. These instances lead to road accidents causing injuries to riders. The relatively low velocities and unavailability of dedicated lanes impact their optimum performance. However, it may be taken into account that these tri-wheelers, like other modes of public informal transport, are entirely financed by the operators themselves. No bank loans or subsidies are available to them, a small proportion of loans from micro finance institutions notwithstanding.

On an average, a three wheeler costs Rs 200,000 as against Rs 4.5 million for a public bus. This enormous advantage in terms of starting cost of the transport business is a core factor behind the phenomenal rise of tri-wheelers. Besides the safety factor during riots and unrest is another consideration. Dozens of buses and mini-buses have been routinely torched during the previous years under political, ethnic and sectarian strife in the city.

It is important to revisit the wisdom behind the development of signal free corridors by the erstwhile City Government of Karachi. Among the various benefits that were highlighted for going ahead with the multi-billion rupee projects was the relative efficiency that was ensured for buses, mini-buses and wagons.

The KCR option must be examined minimising its cost factor by intelligent and smart options of investment through private sector. Similarly, a mini bus and bus system that augments the KCR routes may be contemplated. An integrated transport system is the one which optimises efficiencies by collaborating linkages with multiple modes of transport.

As Karachi has grown as a consequence of urban sprawl, there will remain ample business potential for multiple modes of transport. And announcement and focus on one project alone cannot solve commuting problems of a city of Karachi’s magnitude. Critical analysis, appropriate planning, efficient implementation and dispassionate monitoring and evaluation of transport approaches can formulate logical answers to complex problems that the city is grappling with.

__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

23.06.2013

The old and the new in Naya Pakistan
The results of the May 2013 elections in Pakistan have challenged and altered old ideologies and outcomes. The public discourse of politics has also undergone change while the social media has formed false and comfortable ideologies and self-indulgent self-believers. Whether such articulation, expectation and promise bring about a new Pakistan remains to be seen
By S Akbar Zaidi

The main slogan for the May 2013 Pakistan elections was one of change, for a naya or new Pakistan. In important ways, the 2013 elections were as important and as critical as the 1988 elections which began the process of electoral politics — albeit not democracy — in Pakistan after a long, dark and cruel military dictatorship. This time while the transition, the first ever from a democratically elected government to another is very different compared to 1988, the importance of a break from the past is perhaps more powerful than that of the 1988 elections.

Breaking from the past

There are numerous obvious examples of what is new in these elections and the many breaks from the past. Perhaps the most important aspect of these elections was that for the first time a democratically elected government held free and fair elections in Pakistan — albeit with allegations and proof of rigging in some polling stations. Moreover, the democratically elected government of 2008-13 willingly accepted its failure and congratulated the winning parties and for the first time in Pakistan a fully civilian government — no signs of Pakistan’s model of praetorian democracy at play here — handed over power as per the constitution to a caretaker government which in turn passed it on to the elected government. Given Pakistan’s histories of military intervention, control, meddling, oversight, and much else, all these “firsts” are by themselves a remarkable achievement. While perhaps anticipated and somewhat expected in many ways given the apparent trends and signs since 2007 and again in 2010, nevertheless it is still surprising in Pakistan’s context that this process happened without the military’s interference.

What is also new is that Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as Pakistan’s first prime minister to be elected to that office for the third time, a record which is unlikely to be broken soon. Equally refreshing is the fact that the military general who removed Sharif from office in October 1999 and became Pakistan’s chief executive forcing Sharif into many years of exile is today in a Pakistani jail. It is not often that one can celebrate the fact that Pakistan’s former president and former chief of the army staff (Pervez Musharraf) is under arrest and investigation by Pakistani courts, ironically by many of the lawyers of the Supreme Court who sanctified his coup in October 1999. While there is speculation that Musharraf will be allowed to “get away”, even this temporary judicial and public humiliation is an important first in Pakistan.

New, also, is the fact that almost all experts got the results of the elections wrong. Barring just a handful, the predictions by a large and wide variety of analysts all suggested that no single party would win enough seats to form a government on its own; and like the two previous governments Pakistan’s next would also be a coalition government. Sharif surprised everyone by winning enough seats in the end to form a government on his own supported by a few new entrants who joined him after the elections.

One can also argue that Nawaz Sharif is probably — one should always be cautious about making predictions about Pakistan — the first prime minister since Z A Bhutto in 1971 who ought to see a full term of five years ahead of him. All elected governments after Z A Bhutto — there have been seven — have been sworn in and functioned under the dark clouds of the Pakistani military, often with a serving general as president of Pakistan or with help from the notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Sharif, at the moment at least, seems to be free of such fetters, again, a novel way to start the term of a democratically-elected government in Pakistan.

Other equally new developments include the rise and fall of two parties, one new, the other old. For the first time since 1968, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) did not have someone leading it into the elections, the 10th since 1970. Not only was there just no leader, there was no Bhutto to lead the party, clearly one of the two factors which led to the party (again for the first time) receiving the third, rather than the second, highest number of votes. Since 1970, the PPP has been either in government or in opposition as a formidable force led articulately by a Bhutto. Likewise, probably the newest of all new trends of the 2013 elections not seen since 1985 when what was then called the Muhajir Qaumi Movement became a major political force in Karachi, has been the emergence of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The fact that 56 per cent of the electorate voted, the highest proportion since 1970, must rest on the emergence of a second (or third) force on the political map of Pakistan. The PTI received 18 per cent of the popular vote, converting into 24 National Assembly seats with the capacity to form a government in the highly important and sensitive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. This from a party which had only one member in the National Assembly and only one member of the Provincial Assembly in 2002, and none in the previous elections of 2008 as the PTI boycotted Musharraf’s elections. By all accounts, much credit for bringing out the elite as well as “the youth” as voters goes to Imran Khan’s highly motivated and inspiring political campaign although perhaps not so much his political imagination.

The PTI also deserves credit for becoming one of the few political parties to confront the major political force in Karachi, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Others have arisen and failed, yet numerous members contesting elections on the PTI ticket from Karachi were brave enough to challenge and confront the hold of a party variously described in the past as “militant”, “authoritarian”, and “fascist”. It is certainly no mean achievement to stand up to the MQM in Karachi, suggesting perhaps that the party may be losing its hold on the city. The fact that the PTI received as many as 30,000 votes from the heartland of the MQM in Karachi signifies a shift in the city’s politics, and that even entrenched political parties can be challenged.

The End of Ideologies?

In the past, it has been possible to see some sort of ideological divide between political parties in Pakistan. The PPP was seen to be “progressive” by many, Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN) to be socially conservative with an Islamic bent, and the Awami National Party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the nationalist Pakhtun party of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and his heirs, and of course, the Islamists parties as just that. The 2013 elections have blurred the boundaries, and what is “leftist”, “rightist”, and especially “conservative” has become far more complicated.

Take the argument doing the rounds in Pakistan that suggests that a “rightwing wave” has swept Pakistan’s recent general elections. The arithmetic based on the numbers of seats won and votes cast would suggest that conservative parties have won the election and this in turn would also suggest, at least at first glance, that Pakistanis have consciously shifted to and chosen conservative and right-wing candidates. Clearly, such analysis simplifies electoral choices and does not fully explain Pakistan’s apparent and differentiated turn to the right.

By all accounts, the numbers are persuasive and do support these conclusions. At the national level, Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N has received 35 per cent of votes and the PTI has got 17.8 per cent. If we add some of the Islamist parties such as the Jamaat Islami (JI) and Fazlur Rahman’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUIF) (not counting the minor parties) then the total votes received by parties which are conservative — and there ought to be no two views about them being conservative — at least 57 per cent of the votes cast went to such parties, whether overtly Islamist or conservatives of a different kind. If one wants to distinguish the non-conservative parties, and include the PPP, the ANP and the MQM in this group — it is highly problematic to call them “liberal” and “secular” given the nature of their politics — just for the sake of the argument it is noteworthy that these three parties received a mere 23 per cent of the popular vote.

Such analysis ignores many of the nuances which have had an effect on Pakistan’s elections. One needs to examine the votes cast in the light of broader factors. Take the case of the PML-N. It won resoundingly in the Punjab, perhaps not because there was a sudden lurch towards conservatism, but because the previous PML-N government in the province was seen by the voters as a party worth investing in again. Re-electing a political party is not an ideological swing, it just reaffirms faith in that party. The PML-N was re-elected in the Punjab because the perception of the electorate was that the party had delivered whatever they thought was necessary. Of course, there was also a strong anti-PPP sentiment for its failure to govern at the federal level, which added to the PML-N getting more votes overall. The PPP in the Punjab was also a leaderless party, which did not help its cause much. The bastion of the PPP, southern Punjab, also collapsed on account of poor politics and poor governance.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI made extraordinary inroads, it is again difficult to sustain the argument that these were consciously political choices in favour of an Islamic conservatism. Having dismissed both the last two elected governments in 2002 and 2008, the Pakhtunkhwa electorate has only shown its commitment to address problems of Islamic militancy in the province, by choosing the party it best feels able to do so. The fact that their choice is the conservative PTI is a reflection of how the PTI has promised to deal with drones, the Taliban, and other militant factors. To suggest that this is also an ideological “right-wing” choice is only partially correct.

A distinction needs to be made between the different types of conservatism in Pakistan and the electorates’ choice of such politics. For instance, there is no doubt that Islamic political parties, such as the JUI-F and the JI, are conservative because of their understanding and politics based on religion. About the PML-N, one is probably not wrong in assuming it is on the lines of the European Christian Democratic party or one closer to Turkey’s AKP, the Justice and Development Party, rather than to the Muslim Brotherhood. The PTI, most of the time exudes the worst forms of conservatism and in many ways is an English-speaking Jamaat Islami, but also talks about issues not very dissimilar to those of the PML-N. In terms of administrative reform and governance, it sounds more like World Bank rightwing technocratic crusaders, rather than Islamist ideologues, although by joining its twin (the Jamaat Islami) to form the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa it revealed its true colours.

The so-called corporate “good governance” conservative agenda of both the PML-N and the PTI — which none of the so-called liberal parties articulated — distinguishes them from Islamist political conservatism, and may have been a choice of the electorate in terms of service delivery. It is different from what is normally called conservatist politics in Muslim majoritarian countries. Moreover, specific and local issues of politics may have also had a strong impact on how voters cast their votes.

The argument that Pakistan has moved to the right politically, or that the elections show a rise of politically and ideologically conscious conservatism, needs to be differentiated for its layered distinctiveness. Moreover, which party supports which ideology, also becomes a little problematic. For instance, the PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is imagined as a largely conservative political party, while it is seen as being “progressive” and “enlightened” by many who voted for it in Karachi. However, even if voters did not make a conscious choice for conservatism, whether Islamic or of the “good governance” variety, such choices bring numerous unintended consequences which have far-reaching ramifications on society and politics, and perhaps the distinctiveness of ideological moorings will be better exposed as political praxis proceeds. Nevertheless, questions about which party supports which political ideology remain largely unclear in the naya (new) Pakistan.

Remnants of the Old

If one was tuned into Pakistan’s growing and vibrant virtual social media at that period, the verdict was clear: Imran Khan would sweep the elections and become prime minister. Not just social media, but the electronic media too, was caught up in a hype of the PTI, where the potential election tally was raised each passing day as Imran Khan became perhaps the most vibrant and potent symbol of Pakistan’s elections. Nevertheless, his tsunami turned out to be a virtual wave, rather than a real one. As some bloggers have confessed, social media is an echo which simply repeats itself and gives itself self-importance, believing only in itself. Anyone following different products of the virtual media would have indeed been led to believe that this new form of politics – if one dares to call what happens on social media political – trumped the old form of real and hard campaigning and contact with real people. However, in the last elections, in the real world, it was the old, real, form which scored over the new, the virtual.

Despite Sharif’s resounding victory, the electoral map of Pakistan continues to show a highly fragmented picture of regionalisation. Although the PML-N can claim that it has won seats in all four of Pakistan’s provinces, its victory in Pakistan rests almost exclusively on its victory in the Punjab. Similarly, although the PTI has won 27 seats, 16 of these are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With the MQM and PPP in Sindh, the PML-N in the Punjab and the PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan’s politics reflects a deep fragmentation. Balochistan, as always with the lowest turnout from any region remains even further fragmented with no single party anywhere near a majority unlike the three provinces. With the lowest of the voter turn-out, in some constituencies politicians were elected with less than a thousand votes.

New Expectations from the Old

Nawaz Sharif is not the fresh face of the elections which supporters of the PTI had hoped for. He has been in electoral politics since 1985 and is an old hand, if ever there was one, having been dismissed twice as prime minister of Pakistan. The last time he even had a so-called “heavy mandate”, with a two-thirds majority in Parliament. However, Pakistan has changed fundamentally since Sharif was prime minister last in significant and perhaps, permanent ways, some better and some which clearly reveal retrogression of the worst kinds. Despite being an “old hand”, indications so far are that Sharif has changed radically since his earlier days as Pakistan’s prime minister.

The terms being used in the media to describe Sharif compared to 14 years ago, include those which suggest that he has matured, learnt his lessons, become wiser, more accommodative. There is ample evidence that these flattering terms are well deserved. Not just in 2013, but since 2007 when he returned to Pakistan after his exile, and especially as Pakistan’s “friendly opposition” during the last government’s tenure, Sharif has done as much in protecting Pakistan’s fragile democracy as has Asif Ali Zardari. Both have put their personal differences aside and have been committed to strengthening democracy against all kinds of hostile forces, such as the Islamic militants and Pakistan’s military establishments and its many surrogates. The past history of the PPP and Sharif throughout the 1990s was one of putting each other down, and looking to the military to oust the incumbent and replace it with the ever-ready opposition in-waiting. Perhaps Pakistan’s democrats have learnt some lessons.

When one thinks of the “old” Pakistan, perhaps the one single institution which comes to mind is the military. It has ruled Pakistan directly for 33 years, and indirectly for another 11. In the last five years, since 2008 its overbearing presence in the political life of Pakistan has been partially marginalised at least for the moment. Nevertheless, despite the rise of new institutions such as the media, judiciary and Parliament, few would be hasty in dismissing the military as a powerful, perhaps even the most powerful institution in Pakistan. Hence, Sharif’s pronouncements of how he is going to deal with the military, suggests a confidence not shown by any leader in the past except Z A Bhutto. This is probably not simply bravado and there have been enough indications from Sharif that he expects to be the civilian head of all institutions in the country. Whatever be the eventual outcome the old seems to be looking like something new.

Linked to it have been his announcements, frank and outright, that Pakistan will befriend India perhaps like never before. It is important to point out that India does not feature in the politics and electoral politics of Pakistan. It did not in either the 2002 or 2008 elections, and given Pakistan’s numerous and multifaceted problems, one did not hear much of India in the 2013 elections either. If anything, the right-wing press castigated Sharif for being soft on India. Much of the old does change.

Conclusions

To say that the 2013 elections have been the most fascinating since 1988 is an under statement. Even though some parties which had been in power in the past were re-elected, one cannot deny that even the old is now showing numerous signs of newness. Whether it is Nawaz Sharif, or even the MQM in Karachi embarrassed and in retreat, or the military in retreat, or the PPP which has been completely decimated, electoral politics in Pakistan has had a significant impact on challenging and perhaps even altering old ideologies and outcomes. The public discourse of politics in Pakistan has also undergone change. The virtual sphere has formed false and comfortable ideologies and self-indulgent self-believers, and terms which existed in political circles for many years, particularly amongst the lower and middle urban classes, and perhaps particularly in Karachi, highlighting social, cultural and class distinctions, such as “burger and bunkebab” have found widespread expression in the political public sphere as well. Pakistan’s political discourse and even its narratives have also been changing.

Whether such articulation, expectation and promise bring about a naya Pakistan remains to be seen. The more important question, however, knowing that not all newness is necessarily desirable — and clearly, there is much in the new which one would rather not have — is what exactly will be this naya Pakistan? With the clear absence of left-leaning and progressive alternatives similar to those which appeared after years of military dictatorship and after some initial years of conservative and right-wing democratic politics across Latin America one fears that the best naya Pakistan might do is look a little like Turkey and not at all like Brazil.

The writer (sakbarzaidi@gmail.com) is a social scientist currently teaching at Columbia University, New York. This article has already been published by EPW.

__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

23.06.2013

A budget by the rich, for the rich
Economic justice is still a far cry as the new government has failed to tax the rich and give relief to the poor
By Huzaima Bukhari
&
Dr Ikramul Haq

A friend has asked to outline as to what should be an ideal budget for Pakistan. Our answer is simple: the one that deals justly with all economic classes within the society. It must focus on welfare programmes — to help those lagging behind, enabling them to move up economically. It must resent the sight of rich families staying at the top and impose on them high taxes in order to redistribute wealth and income in the society. All our budgets, including the latest one announced by Ishaq Dar, are designed for benefitting the affluent classes — these can be safely be called “budgets of the rich, by the rich, for the rich”.

“No relief for the poor” was the instant reaction of most of the Pakistanis after hearing the budget speech on the evening of June 12, 2013. There is consensus amongst experts that “the tilt of the budget is towards the rich.” Shahbaz Rana, a noted journalist covering economic matters, concluded: “Due to uneven rates, the tax liabilities of the lowest income group having annual income of Rs400,000 to Rs500,000 will be increased by 22 per cent when compared with the liabilities of this year.” The move by the government, he says, “is contrary to the claims of taxing the rich to overcome the economic crisis as it has increased the tax burden on the salaried class by a third, while the tax burden on the non-corporate business class — also known as association of persons — has grown three-fold”.

According to economist Dr Kaiser Bengali, the new government has missed an opportunity to take necessary steps like reintroducing wealth tax in its first budget. He is of the view that “if the government desired to generate revenues in an equitable manner, it should have reintroduced wealth tax to target 700,000 families that have been identified by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as affluent but avoiding taxes.

Dr Bengali opined: “Nawaz Sharif won with a clear mandate at a time when “everybody knows that Pakistan is in serious economic crisis. As such, the country was prepared to accept a ‘harsh’ budget, but the government has attempted to present a populist budget — one that would have been presented if elections were round the corner”. He advised the government to amend the Constitution and bring all kinds of income, including from agriculture, within the federal ambit. He said that everyone should pay income tax in Pakistan, irrespective of the sector.

He strongly criticised revenue leakages through the FBR and said that “Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) are a major source of revenue loss, but this matter has been swept under the carpet by placing it with a committee to be headed by the chairman of FBR — the very organisation that has vested interest in the whole SRO business.”

Bengali said that “though the budget speech was eloquent regarding relief for the corporate sector, the most damaging part of revenue-generating exercise was the increase in general sales tax to 17 per cent from 16 per cent. This will hit the industry and may hamper job creation.” The budget speech, he said, had a good share for the industry and corporate sector, but it did not mention labour issues.

The Economist (May 27-June 2, 2006) published two studies showing how the Nordic countries have achieved social mobility and economic justice by taxing the rich to raise money for a welfare state. The studies say that “these countries help the children of the poor to do better than their parents.” One might expect social mobility and economic flexibility to go together — in fact, to be two sides of the same coin.

Our budget makers are not inclined towards promoting social mobility taking tough redistribution policies, particularly benefitting those who are at the bottom. There is no desire to follow the Nordic countries where a more supple and less class-ridden education system runs from top to bottom. Education in Pakistan is not only very expensive and a flourishing business industry but it is also pathetically poor in quality and class-ridden. If we judge our economic policies in the perspective of Article 3 of the Constitution, it can safely be concluded that Budget 2013 is totally oblivious of redistributive fiscal policies and social welfare programmes for social mobility.

The finance minister, in his budget speech, noted that “incidentally, the three main subjects of human development, namely education, health and population welfare have been devolved to the provinces under the 18th Constitutional Amendment. However, the responsibility for higher education, regulatory responsibilities and international coordination remain with the federal government. I would like to mention the following initiatives that will be undertaken for the promotion of this sector:

A sizeable allocation of Rs18 billion has been made for the Higher Education Commission, which will support development plans of different universities all over the country. It may be noted that on the current side also a hefty allocation of Rs39 billion is made for HEC. Thus a combined outlay of Rs57 billion will be made for higher education.

The enrollment in higher education will increase from 1.08 million students in 2012-13 to 1.23 million students in 2013-14, showing an increase of 14 per cent in the population of students pursuing higher education.”

The honourable minister forgot that in areas administered by the federal government, law and order and education is still their responsibility. We know the pathetic law and order situation in these areas — especially blowing up of the female schools by the miscreants. The federation has not bothered to develop these areas. In his budget, Dar has proved that education is at the lowest level in our state policies. He ignored the command of Article 25A which says: “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.” Can the worthy finance minister tell how much allocation is made to fulfill this Constitutional obligation for Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), Islamabad and other areas falling under the control of the federal government?

Our education system, if there is any, is worthless. The federal and provincial governments do not realise that it is not only spending more money on education that matters but how to use the entire system as an effective tool for social mobility. There is a complete lack of understanding of this perception on the part of our politicians and the result is that poor segments of society are condemned to remain mired in abject poverty and their children have no chance to move up as education is either not available to them or is of no practical use. Budget 2013-2014 is lacking this perspective is yet another routine exercise of balancing the books (that too by window dressing).

Pakistan needs meaningful redistribution policies that can uplift the downtrodden. There is nothing in this budget towards this goal — like all previous ones, it is a disappointing document.

The writers, tax lawyers and authors of many books on Pakistani tax laws, are Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)